Self-playing piano.



E. B. BARTLETT.

I SELF PLAYING PIANO. APPLICATION FILED MAB..15,19093 Patem'ea-0ct.12,1909.

" on room 5 @ln' lhllllihltl ASSEGNQR- 1'0 "W. W". KIMBALL COMPANY,

F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION 013 ILLINOKS.

SELF-PLAYING PIANO.

o all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, l3. BARTLETT, a citizen of the United States,residing in Chicage, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Sel't-Playing Pianos, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to pianos and simi lar instruments provided withmeans where- 1 by they may be played automatically at will and itsobject has been to provide the levers which control the automaticmechanism with a device whereby the same may be cov ered when not in useand with convenient devices for operating such cover.

The nature of the invention l have fully disclosed below and will beunderstood from the accompanying drawings in which-- Figure l is a frontelevation of the keyboard of a piano equipped with my inven tion; Fig. 2is an enlarged partial section on line 22 of Fig. l and'l ig. 3 is aperspective of a portion or the folding lid. or cover used to cover thecontrolli levers of the automatic playing mechanism.

In equipping a piano with my invention, the controlling levers of theautomatic playmechanism are arranged above the bed rail 3 of thekeyboard in the usual manner. one of the levers being shown at 4 in Fig.2. A. recess!) formed in the bed rail and adjacent parts into which theoperating ends of the levers are ext-ended as seen at said figure. Abovethe recess 5 is a folding sec tion ('3 ot' the key slip 7. it isprovided with a horizontal ledge 8 in trout so that when closed as inFig. '2 it covers the open top of the rec ss and conceals thecontrolling levers This key slip section is hinged at 9 upon pivotsprojecting from its ends and extending into the adjacent parts of thekey slip. By rocking this movable section 6 upon its pivots to thedotted position of Fig. 2, the recess5 is uncovered so that access canbe had to the controlling levers therein, and the movable section isoperated to accomplish this by the hand lever 10 and a connecting bar 11extending from said hand lever to the plate 12 secured upon the end ofthe movable section, the joints uniting said hand lever to theconnecting bar and to the movable section all being pivotal ones. T hehand lever is located beneath tjhekeyslf) Specification of LettersPatent.

Application filed. March 15,

Patented til-ct. 12?,

3909. Serial 1'10. 183,355.

and within the bed rail and need not be visible from the outside of theinstrument. it is a swinging lever and is attached to a hinged bar 14adapted to be turned from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the dottedposition in said figure. \Vhen thus turned to the dotted position itsets close under the keys and locks them against movement so that atsuch times no manual playing can be done. In this change of position ofthe locking 14- which is accomplished by the hand lever, the movablesection 6 is also opened so that the automatic playing mechanism canthen be used. By reversing the hand lever the movable section 6 isclosed and the key locking bar is turned down so as to release the keys.

By this construction while the piano may be used either manually orautomatically as desired yet when the automatic mechanism is in use thekeys are locked stationary, and when the instrument is played manuallythe automatic levers are concealed and can not be used.

I claim 2 1. The comhinatirm in a sell? playing key board instrumentwith the controlling levers of the automatic playing mechanism, of ahinged section of the key slip concealing said levers, and a concealedhand lover below the lteyboard n'lechani ally connected to and operatingsaid hinged section.

2. The combination iu.a self playing in'-' striunent. with the keys andthecontrolling levers of the automatic mechanism, of a hinged bar forlocking the keys while the automatic mechanism is in use. a hinged 9ofront section of the key slip covering said controlling levers, and ahand lever concealed below the keyboard and. connected to the bar and tosaid hinged section and actuating both simultaneously.

3.. The combination in a self playing instrument with means for lockingthe keys and means for concealing the controlling levers of theautomatic mechanism, of a single lever connected. both to the lockingmeans 00 and to'thc concealing means and operatingthem simultaneously.

EARLE B. BARTLETT.

.Vitnesses: A. R. CROSMAN,

CHARLES C. DUNBAR.

